Datawind will bid for Aakash 4 tender, confirms CEO

New Delhi: As the deadline for giving suggestions on the proposed specifications of the Aakash 4 comes to a close on 12 July, the manufacturers of the earlier versions of Aakash, Datawind, say they will bid on the Aakash 4 when tenders for it are released.

Welcoming the release of the draft specifications and the invitation by the government for comments from stake holders, Suneet Singh Tulli, CEO Datawind told Firstpost, “This open process is encouraging and it provides all those that have commented on the Aakash project over the last two years to provide their feedback. Datawind does intend to bid on the Aakash 4 tender, when it is released.”

The department of electronics and information technology (DeitY) released its proposed specifications for the Aakash 4 tablet. It includes 1Gb RAM, 4GB internal memory, hardware accelerator for playing true HD and Bluetooth among others.

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[caption id=“attachment_944921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Aakash 2 is seen in this file photo. AFP[/caption]

Tulli is confident that given Datawind’s prior experience and market share in India, the company is well equipped if it were to get the Aakash 4 tender. “Over the last year, the commercial supply of our product has increased significantly, and we are currently recognised as the largest supplier of tablets in the Indian market. We can produce at a sufficient rate to meet the government’s requirements,” Tulli said.

He also expressed confidence about being able to build the Aakash 4 since most specifications of the Aakash 4 were already in the Aakash 2 version which Datawind built. “The Aakash 4 specifications are very similar to the Aakash 2 specifications, except with the addition of an embedded Bluetooth module and type-A USB port,” he said.

While some have compared the Aakash 4 to the Google Nexus 7, based on the proposed Antutu overall performance benchmark score of a minimum 3537, the performance score on the Aakash 2 was significantly better at 4679.

Tulli said that he was surprised that the embedded cellular connectivity has not been included in the specifications, and said he “believes that anytime & anywhere internet connectivity should be an essential requirement”.